Varsity degree mills: FG extends suspension of degree certificates to Kenya, Niger Republic, others

Following alleged issuance of fake degree certificates from Benin and Togo Republics, the Federal Government says it will extend the suspension of accreditation for degree certificates to Uganda, Kenya and Niger Republic.

Persecondnews reported that the government had yesterday suspended evaluation and accreditation of degree certificates from Benin and Togo Republics, following an exposè by a Nigerian news medium on how undergraduates acquire degree certificates in six weeks on payment of N600,000.

The investigation by the Daily Nigerian Newspaper titled, “Undercover: How Daily Nigerian reporter bagged Cotonou varsity degree in 6 weeks” had exposed the fraud.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, revealed this when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme, monitored by Persecondnews, on Wednesday.

He said: “We are not going to stop at just Benin and Togo. We are going to extend the dragnet to countries like Uganda, Kenya, even Niger here where such institutions have been set up.

“Students who patronise such institutions are not victims but criminals. I have no sympathy for such people. Instead, they are part of the criminal chain that should be arrested.”

He also disclosed that security agents will go after those with fake certificates from foreign countries already using them to secure job opportunities in Nigeria.

“Once we do that, they are criminals and you know there is no time frame to criminality. We will trace them. As long as we can lay our hands on their institutions and they are right here with us.

“Certainly, the security agencies will go after them because they are criminals,” Mamman said in reaction to a question on what would be done to Nigerians with fake foreign certificates already within the system.